


Lying From You

by Otakupunk



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Loss of Identity, Loss of Limbs, M/M, Parent Pleasing, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2019-12-29 23:15:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18303731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Otakupunk/pseuds/Otakupunk
Summary: Eren had been the first to notice it.That Armin was vanishing...........Eren rushes his roommate Armin to the hospital. Armin is vanishing limb by limb. Why? The answer may lie in whatever Armin isn't telling anyone...





	1. He's Vanishing!

Eren had been the first to discover it.

Eren had had a nightmare. He couldn't remember what it was about, but he had woken up feeling afraid. Like he was going to die. Unable to sleep that night, he had gone to Armin's bedroom to talk to him, about anything, really, and had found him still sleeping. He had stood there watching him, debating whether or not to wake his slumbering roommate and ease his own mind with his company. 

He thought, at first, that it was a trick his eyes were playing on him. He can't have been seeing what he thought he saw. It couldn't be happening, not to Armin.

He decided to take a closer look, praying that what he had seen wasn't true.

Then he saw it. Again.

Armin's index finger was missing.

He didn't even know if he had gotten dressed. He had rushed to his car, Armin in his arms, hurried them both in, and peeled away to the nearest hospital. He thought he may have been pushing the speed limit in his haste... thankfully, the streets were practically empty at that time of night. The jostling had woken Armin.

"Huh? Where am I?"

"I'm taking you to the hospital. Your index finger disappeared."

Armin had tensed briefly. He'd relaxed just as soon. "Oh."

He had held Armin's hand for the entire car ride. Armin had tried to talk Eren down. Tried to make him turn around.

"It's nothing, Eren. You don't have to do this."

"You've got a funny definition of nothing," Eren had said, still staring straight at the road. Even now, he was still trying to get used to the feeling of Armin's missing index finger.

"I'll be fine. You don't have to inconvenience yourself like this. You have a test tomorrow, this isn't that important--"

"Don't talk like that." In his frazzled state, it had come out more stern and harsh than he had intended. "I'm not sacrificing you for some stupid test."

"Just let it go, Eren. Please. Let me go."

_"No._ You're not going anywhere." Armin's body would beg to differ, considering he had already lost his right calf, but damn it, Eren would get this fixed no matter what it took.

He had scooped Armin back up almost as soon as he'd screeched to a halt in front of the hospital doors. It was a good thing for the hospital that they had automatic doors, or else he would have kicked them open.

"Please! My friend needs help right away!" he had shout-pleaded, practically in the receptionist's face. "He's... I don't know why, but... he's vanishing!"


	2. I Should Never Have Been

He was in Armin's room in the hospital. Still holding his hand. He had gone back to sleep after being checked in.

The doctors had him hooked up to an IV. Eren had asked what the liquid was for. To alleviate the symptoms, they'd told him. They couldn't stop the vanishing until they found out why it was happening, but they could slow it down. They had put the IV in his left arm. His entire right hand was missing; his right forearm was translucent, flickering in and out of visibility. Eren's hand was on top of Armin's, lightly squeezing. His other hand caressed Armin's forehead, pushing the hair from his eyes. Armin's head twitched at the contact, and his eyes fluttered open. He turned to face his friend.

"Eren..."

Eren smiled gently. "It's okay, Armin. I'm here."

Armin gave a small smile in return, before his face quickly fell, eyes cast down. "I'm sorry..."

"I don't want to hear it," Eren insisted. "You've got nothing to apologize for."

"I... this has to be an inconvenience for you... you've got exams and--"

"I don't care." Eren squeezed Armin's hand a bit tighter, a reassuring gesture. "Don't worry about me. Just rest."

Armin sighed, his eyes slowly closing. "I'm not the one you should be worrying about."

"You're the one disappearing," Eren said skeptically.

Armin shook his head in response, slowly. "This is nothing. I deserve this... I should never have been..." His voice was starting to trail off."

"Armin? What does that mean? Why won't you talk to anybody about this?"

But he was already asleep.

Eren ran a hand through his hair, his entire body swirling with emotion. Armin had been acting strangely for the past few weeks, and making cryptic statements just like that. Eren couldn't figure out what was wrong.

Shouldn't he know already? Shouldn't he be able to help? He knew everything about Armin. They were thicker than thieves.

What kind of a friend was he, that he couldn't even help Armin when he was in trouble?

He walked out of the door, his fingers still weaving their frantic course through his hair, and crashed headlong into an oncoming body. He raised his head to yell at the person to watch where they were going, before he saw the person's face.

"Mikasa. You're here."

His sister nodded once. "I came as soon as you texted me. How is he?"

He shook his head. "Not good." He moved over to let her see Armin. She gasped, putting a hand over her mouth.

"What... how...?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. He just started... fading away. He's been sick for the past three days... I thought it was just a fever." He ran a hand through his hair. "I should have known better... I should have taken better care of him..."

He felt a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault," Mikasa whispered. "You're not a doctor. You couldn't have known."

"Dad is. I should have known something." He cast his eyes to the floor. "Why am I always useless when people need me...?"

He felt a light tug under his arm, and rose at Mikasa's suggestion. "Let's get something to eat. I know you haven't eaten much for the past few days."

He shook his head. "I'm not hungry."

She tugged his wrist this time. "You have to eat something. Come on." He ended up following Mikasa without much more of a fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good Lord, this story is already harder to write than Total Anarchy was. XD This is what happens when you're a pantser and have no idea where you're going when you start writing.
> 
> Anyway, here's the second chapter. Hopefully it's not too horrible. It was going to be longer, but I couldn't abate my crippling hatred for the second half. It was embarrassing.


	3. Don't Worry About It

The two siblings sat across from each other at a nearby hamburger restaurant. They had chosen a corner seat, nearby one of the windows, where they had gotten a booth. Eren chewed his burger in small, disinterested bites, mainly for Mikasa's benefit: his appetite was entirely absent, worry still swirling in his stomach for Armin.

He had asked the doctor, Dr. Zoe, what they thought was wrong with Armin before leaving the hospital. "We're still performing some tests, trying to rule out-- or in-- everything we can," they had told Eren. "However, in my experience, and according to research so far, the disappearance of extremities tends to only happen to those who are born witches."

"Armin's a witch," Eren had replied, softly. 

Dr. Zoe nodded. "Of course. Like I said, we're still not entirely sure; however, I find that the cause of these symptoms in the wicthborn tend to be comorbid with stress and mental strain. Possibly even a mental disorder."

"You're telling me Armin's crazy?!" Unconciously, he'd leaned hard towards them, all his defenses at the ready. "That's not true at all."

"It's also not what I'm saying, Mr. Yeager. Having a mental disorder does not make one 'crazy.' If I am correct, Armin is simply suffering from an imbalance mentally, and the disappearance of his extremities is psychosomatic."

"Huh?"

"To invert the old statement, it's when your body is a plaything of your mind. Perhaps there is some need of his that isn't getting met, or something on his mind that's been bothering him."

Eren cast his eyes to the floor. Armin hadn't been himself lately... he hadn't been reading as much as he used to, or even tried to use or understand his powers. He balled his hands, frustrated... what could be the matter...?

"Eren." He looked up; Mikasa was scrutinizing him with concern. "You're not eating."

He pushed his food away. "I'm really not hungry. I'll take it home for later."

"Eren, you need to eat--"

"I will! I just... don't feel like it right now. Please don't push this."

Mikasa opened her mouth to argue further, but seemed to decide against it, and sighed instead. "Alright. Let's just go home."

 

_Eren smiled at the bouquet of flowers that materialized in Armin's hand. They were lively, the petals bright pink._

_"Wow, Armin, your powers are really growing!"_

_Armin smiled sheepishly. "Thanks. I've been practicing a lot lately."_

_"What else have you learned?"_

_Armin smiled and grabbed Eren's wrist, turning his palm out. He put one of his flowers in Eren's hand and laid his own hand over it. He closed his hand, a flash of light shined through the gaps in their hands-- and, when Armin lifted his hand, Eren saw a tiny kitten curled up in his own palm._

_Eren smiled at the small creature, which began to stir. It shook it's head and lifted it; upon seeing Eren, it let out a tiny mewl and reached for Eren's face with his palm._

_"You can transfigure things now? I've heard that that's really difficult."_

_"It is. Plant-to-animal transformations are especially difficult; changing plant cells into animal ones, let alone rearranging them, is a rather advanced skill. I honestly don't even know how I managed it."_

_Because you're smart, duh, Eren didn't say, instead deciding on "I think it's great! Your folks must be really proud of you!"_

_Armin's face fell suddenly, his muscles stiffening. His eyes widened, all the emotion draining from them at once. "Yeah..."_

_"Armin? Is something wrong?"_

_Armin's face stayed that way for several moments, before he looked back up at Eren. He smiled at the other boy, though it didn't reach his eyes this time. "No, yeah, I'm fine, Eren. I was just... remembering something." He waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about it."_

_He couldn't stop worrying about it. Though he dropped it in that moment, it stayed on Eren's mind for the rest of the day. He continued to wonder what was wrong, what Armin had been thinking about in that moment._

_Could he have been having a problem with someone?_

_Who could have hurt him?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Promise I haven't abandoned this story! I just had some issues in the background that were affecting my ability to write. (Also, I still didn't really know what I was doing with this story. I'm still trying to figure it out even now.)
> 
> Anywhoo, hope you enjoy Chapter Three! (I know it's really short. Don't hurt me. o_o)


End file.
